Forecast: App economy to surpass $100b by 2020

Look for the app economy to see significant growth over the next four years. That's the takeaway from a new AppAnnie forecast which predicts the app economy will reach at least $50 billion this year and should exceed $101 billion (globally) by 2020.

The debate over mobile browsers vs. mobile apps will continue, but according to one new report, we can expect apps to show strong growth over the next four years. In fact, the forecast predicts that apps will continue to be a strong part of mobile. Driven by both mature and emerging markets, AppAnnie's new forecast suggests the Chinese market will surpass the US at some point in 2016.

"Our app economy forecast is designed to help unlock key insights and tactics for the dynamic and rapidly evolving app economy, as well as to provide businesses a detailed roadmap for navigating it," said Danielle Levitas, senior vice president of research, App Annie. "We leveraged more than 10,000 sources, on top of our deep and trusted app data and insights, to produce a forecast that is unparalleled in its scientific rigor."

Other interesting predictions from the app economy forecast include:
• Argentinian and Brazilian markets have indicated apps are resilient to economic recessions
• Total app store revenue in China may eclipse US app store revenue by June 2016
• App economy is expected to increase 24% (globally) this year